Monday, September 27, 2010

Like Christmas every other month!

I work full-time, and really wish I had time to read more often than I do. Since my commute has changed since my last job where I was taking a bus to and from (and hence had more time to read), the number of books I go through in a month has declined from 5 or 6 to 1.

Thankfully, Harlequin Reader Services gives me a gentle reminder every two months that I need to get down and start reading! This weekend, I received the following four books in a neat little package on my doorstep:






This month is especially great for me, because I haven't read a single title from any of these authors yet! (Yeah yeah, *hiss, boo*) I'm a bit thrown off by the different style of cover used for Heather Graham's book The Keepers, because as silly as it sounds it just doesn't feel like a Nocturne. So, I think that's the one I'll have to start with first!

On another note, I do like to consider myself an environmentalist. I recycle when I don't reuse a container, I eat low-impact foods, create so little waste that between two people in the same house, we throw the garbage out maybe once per week, usually because someone put food in the trash and it's getting smelly. But lately I've been criticized because I *gasp* read hard copies of books.

I do have a Kindle application on my iPhone, which I do use occasionally. I have several dozen books on Kindle, mostly classics and free reads from Harlequin and Ellora's Cave, so I don't consider that in lieu of my hard-copy book collection, which runs upwards of several hundred books. (I'll catalog them one day, I swear.)

I don't throw books away, never never. Not even if I've read them a hundred times (or five, which is the most I've ever read one book -- The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, so well-loved that the cover has been taped back on). So it's not a matter of creating waste with my books at all.

To me, nothing beats the smell of a real book, the weight of it in my hands, the sound it makes when I turn the pages, the paper cuts I get when I'm so excited that I'm turning the page too quickly. But when it comes down to playing passenger a 20-hour road trip up or down the East Coast and I'm getting a craving for some Vivi Anna, I just can't conjure up a book out of thin air without Kindle!

How do you feel about eBooks versus hard copies of books?

3 comments:

  1. I read both. I have more paper books than I can store and still buy them but since getting a B&N Nook I buy less. There's just something about holding a book or seeing them on shelves that I don't want to give up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My goodness, that's just how I feel. I have an entire room of books piled around the perimeter that just haven't found a place on a bookshelf (because "bookshelves" is still on the list of things to buy for my new apartment, and the one I have just isn't cutting it).

    I'm going to need recommendations one day when I have the money set aside for an e-reader. Haven't had a chance to play with the Nook yet to see how it stands up to Kindle!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought I was fine with e-reading (on a laptop) or a book, until my sister dumped a bagful of books she had been buying on my behalf in my lap, literally.

    Since then I haven't been able to keep them down ;) and then I thought "Who am I kidding?"... I love the feel of books ;)..the fact that, each page I turn is hurtling me closer and closer to "the end", till I know I wouldn't sleep till I complete it;)

    On a laptop, I say - phew.. I can read it tomorrow ;)

    ReplyDelete